Carpet protector



Jan. 5, 1960 J. F. KING ErAL CARPET PROTECTQR Filed July-ll, 1958 INVENTORS Alvin P. Hi/le Joe F King WW i United States This invention relates to furniture leg supports and more particularly is directed to an adjustable carpet protector for supporting furniture upon a wide variety of floor coverings and surfaces.

When a particular item of furniture rests upon a carpet, rug or other similar soft floor covering for an appreciable length of time in any one position, the furniture legs tend to compress the soft material and leave undesirable depressions or marks in the carpet or rug surface. In order to prevent the furniture from permanently marring a carpet it is necessary to very often shift the position of the furniture legs at relatively frequent intervals.

To avoid the necessity for the bothersome and oftentimes impractical frequent rearrangement of furniture, it has been proposed to provide the bottoms of furniture legs with a plurality of prongs or teeth adapted to pass between the napped or pile surface of a carpet to rest on the backing material of the carpet. In this way the broad area of the end of a furniture leg is supported above the pile surface and no longer produces the semi-permanent depressions which tend to detract from the appearance of the carpet surface.

The permanently attached carpet protectors described have the serious disadvantage in that it is practically impossible to thus protect carpet and rugs against marks from the furniture and at the same time to be able to put the furniture on wooden floors, tile, linoleum and the like without tearing up or seriously injuring these latter hard floor surfaces. On the other hand the provision of an independent carpet protector in the form of a cup like support adapted to be freely inserted and removed from beneath a furniture leg has the disadvantage that when the support is not in use for extended periods of time, it is often mislaid or lost and cannot be found when it is desired to replace the furniture upon a soft compressible floor covering such as a carpet or rug.

The present invention provides an adjustable carpet protector avoiding the above mentioned difliculties in which a smooth surface or prong-like projections on the bottom of a furniture leg may be selectively presented to the floor surface so that the furniture may be used with both the soft floor covering such as carpets and rugs and with the hard-floor surfaces such as wood, tile, linoleum and the like. The carpet protector of the present invention is securely attached to a furniture leg and is carried on the leg at all times whether the smooth surface or the prong-like projections are being used to support the furniture. The device is inexpensive to manufacture, presents a pleasing appearance at the base of a furniture leg and may be simply and easily adjusted to the desired optional position.

It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an improved relatively inexpensive furniture leg support for use on both soft and hard floor surfaces.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a readily adjustable carpet protector for optionally presenting either a smooth or prong-like surface to the floor material.

I atent O "ice An additional object of the present invention is to provide an adjustable carpet protector for presenting optional surfaces to a floor material which may be securely affixed to a furniture leg and carried thereby irrespective of the particular floor surface upon which the furniture rests.

These and further objects of the invention will be more apparent upon reference to the specification, claims and appended drawings in which:

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the novel carpet protector of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-section of the central prongcarrying sleeve shown in Figure l. I

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section of the external collar member of Figure 1.

Figure 4 shows the carpet protector of the present invention resting on a hard floor surface with the external collar in extended position, and

Figure 5 shows the carpet protector of the present in-.

vention resting on a soft floor covering such as a carpet with the external collar in retracted position.

Referring to the several figures of the drawing and particularly to Figures 1 through 3, there is shown the carpet protector of the present invention comprising a sleeve 10 adapted to fit over and engage the lowermost portion of a furniture leg. Sleeve 10 is in the form of a hollow cylinder and includes a pair of cylindrical projections 14 spaced degrees apart about the circumference thereof. Forming an integral part of sleeve 10 is a bottom plate 12 carrying a plurality of suitably spaced and downwardly projecting pegs or prongs 16. Prongs 16 may be secured to bottom plate 12 in any desired manner and by way of example only, may be riveted through suitable apertures or perforations provided over the surface of the bottom plate. The particular number and shape of the individual prongs 16 may be varied to suit the particular application and form no part of the present invention. In addition, it is contemplated that prongs 16 may be covered by a rubber or rubber like material to provide additional protection for the carpet material. A central aperture 18 is provided in bottom plate 12 for the passage of a screw 20 which serves to securely fasten sleeve 10 to the base of a furniture leg.

Constructed to telescopingly engage over sleeve 10 is a collar 22 having a lower outwardly extending skirt24 which in extended position presents a smooth ,under-, surface in the form of an annular face 26 to any hard fioor surface upon which the furniture is placed. Spaced about sleeve 22 at its top edge are a pair of elongated longitudinally extending slots 28 for slidably engaging the projections 14 on the sleeve 10. Slots 28 terminate in upper notches 30 and lower notches 32 cut in opposite directions out of the upright wall portion of collar 22. Connecting notches 30 and 32 are a pair of diagonal channels 34-.

In operation sleeve 10 is passed over the bottom portion of a furniture leg which leg is received therein and rests inside of sleeve 10 upon bottom plate 12. If necessary sleeve 10 may be securely attached to the furniture leg by the screw 20 or other suitable fastening means passing through central aperture 18 provided in bottom plate 12. Collar 22 is then slid over the sleeve 10 with projections 14 passing through elongated channels 28 provided in the collar. Clockwise rotation of collar 22 brings projections 14 into engagement with the upper notches 30 so that collar 22 is in the projecting position and presents the smooth surface of face 26 on the bottom of skirt 24 to a hard floor surface such as wood, linoleum or tile. This position is indicated in Figure 4 showing the sleeve 10 affixed to a furniture leg 36 and the skirt 24 resting upon a hard floor surface indicated at 38. With collar 22 in the extended position the weight of the furniture through projections 14 bears upon the bottom edges of upper notches 30 and prongs 16 are withdrawn from the floor surface and held above the floor inside of collar 22. Counter-clock wise rotation of sleeve 22 causes projectious 14 to pass along the diagonal channels 34 into the lower pair of notches 32. In this position shown in Figure 5, collar 22 is retracted while prongs 16 project from the bottom of the carpet protector and rest upon the backing material of a carpet indicated at 40 without compressing or injuring the soft pile or nap surface of the carpet.

The device may be constructed of any material having suflicient strength to bear the load of the furniture and for example may be made of metal, wood, or rigid plastic. The carpet protector is simple and easy to adjust, can be readily manipulated into the desired position and is inexpensive to manufacture. It may at all times be carried upon or in the legs of the furniture and is not susceptible to being lost or misplaced when one or the other of the telescoping elements is being used to support the furniture.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and is desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A furniture leg support comprising a base for engaging the lower end of a furniture leg, a plurality of vertical prongs extending from the bottom of said base, and support means including a substantially smooth lower face attached to said base for relative movement therewith to selectively expose said prongs and said smooth face to a floor surface.

2. A furniture leg support comprising a base for engaging the lower end of a furniture leg, a plurality of vertical prongs extending from the bottom of said base, and support means including a substantially smooth lower face attached to said base for relative longitudinal movement therewith to selectively expose said prongs and said smooth face to a floor surface.

3. A furniture leg support comprising a base for engaging the lower end of a furniture leg, a plurality of vertical prongs extending from the bottom of said base, and supporting means including a substantially smooth lower face in telescoping engagement with said base to selectively expose said prongs to a floor surface and retract said prongs from said surface.

4. An adjustable carpet protector comprising a base for attachment to the lower end of a furniture leg, a plurality of downwardly extending prongs depending from the bottom of said base, a telescoping collar including a substantially smooth lower face slidably attached to said base and means for supporting said collar on said base in a first position with said smooth face below the ends of said prongs and in a second position with said surface above the ends of said prongs.

5. An adjustable carpet protector comprising a sleeve for receiving the lower end of a furniture leg, said sleeve including a bottom plate having a plurality of downwardly extending prongs depending from the bottom side thereof, a pair of spaced projections on the outer surface of said sleeve, and a telescoping collar including a substantially smooth lower face slidably mounted on said sleeve, said collar including a pair of spaced upper notches for receiving said projections in a first position with said smooth face below the ends of said prongs and a pair of spaced lower notches for receiving said projections in a second position with said face above the ends of said prongs, said collar including a pair of channels each connecting one of said upper and lower notches.

6. A carpet protector as defined in claim 5 in which said upper and lower pairs of notches are horizontally spaced apart about the surface of said sleeve and said channels run diagonally from each upper notch to the horizontally spaced lower notch.

7. A carpet protector as defined in claim 6 in which the upper edge of said sleeve includes a vertical slot communicating with each of said channels.

8. A carpet protector as defined in claim 6 including a flared skirt portion about the lower edge of said collar.

9. A carpet protector as defined in claim 6 in which said bottom plate includes a central aperture for receiving fastening means for securing said carpet protector to a furniture leg.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 415,511 Howgate Nov. 19, 1889 616,738 Schwarting Dec. 27, 1898 2,476,381 Peavey July 19, 1949 2,729,019 Breeden Jan. 3, 1956 

